By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make [the oppressed] to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
Ver. 9. By reason of the multitude (or magnitude) of oppressions, &c.] Or, of the oppressed, whom they (that is, whom the oppressors, not worthy to be named, as neither is that rich glutton, Luk 16:19-31) make to cry. Job had said, Job 24:12, "Men groan out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them." He punisheth not the wrong dealers according to their deserts, as Elihu interprets Job; and here refuteth him, as one that accused God of injustice, because he heareth not the cries of the oppressed. But this is merely their own fault, saith Elihu; because they cry not to God with truth and devotion. They ask and miss, because they ask amiss. For God never faileth to be with his afflicted, Psalms 91:1,16, to preserve the simple, as David found by experience, &c., Psalms 116:1,19, to hear those that call upon him in truth, Psalms 145:1,21; he requireth nothing of them but lawful petitions aud honest hearts, and then they are sure to have out their prayers, either in money or money's worth; either the same thing they ask or a better.
They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty] Magnatum. Such as was Pompey, of whom the Romans cried out, Nostra miseria tu es Magnus, We rue by thy greatness, and are ruined. The greater any man is, unless gracious also, the more he thinks he may oppress the meaner sort. They "eat up my people as they eat bread," Psalms 14:4, as so many cannibals, and as the bigger fishes devour the lesser; they lay load upon them without mercy or measure; they beat them with a strong arm, and make them cry aloud, filling the air with their complaints, as nature teacheth even brute beasts to do when they are hurt: Videri possunt magnates non alio loco habere tenues quam minutos pisciculos, quos confertim et pleno ore pro deliciis esitent (Merl.). It was not patience, but pertinace, an obstinate stiffness of mind, that made some heathens, as Mithridates, Marius, Epicurus, &c., forbear crying when grievously tormented.